I fished with dry flies for while, then, in cold water or deep holes, tried to cast weighted nymphs... argghhhhhh! Very bad-cowboy-at-the-rodeo scene -- lasso-ing trees, myself, look out -- I don't understand casting weighted flies. I assume I shouldn't start with a 6 foot, full flex rod, but beyond that, how do you cast that weighted thing out there when it has momentum and, seemingly, a mind of its own?

When casting with weight I prefer using a roll cast or to just lift the rod straight up and give a firm forward cast. It does take a couple of outings to get comfortable doing either but you will get there. Good first question for this forum,

Posted on: 2010/3/4 18:08

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Hot and Dangerous if your one of us then roll with us.............

For me anyway, casting a weighted fly takes a different casting stroke that is more of a lob than the standard dry fly cast. With the weight, the dynamics of the cast shift away from using the weight of the line to put the fly out there and more towards using the weight of the fly to provide the momentum.

Try this:

Don't backcast at all. Just let however much line (within reason) beyond the tip and then, instead of having your arm travel a flat plane as you bring the rod ahead, lift the rod a little as you bring it ahead of your shoulder and then drop it a bit as the fly turns over in the air.

If that makes any sense...:). I'm not sure it does.

It's more of a lob than a cast, in any event, at least at shorter distances, which is where you should be working anyway.

I like the roll cast, or the flip (using the weight of the fly and the current just to throw it back upstream).

If you gotta backcast, and sometimes you do, come back hard on the backcast, but then extend the pause till you feel the weight. For a long line, the forward cast is slow, more of a lob like a spinning rod, with an open loop. For short line high sticking, I like a tuck cast. You still have the long pause till you feel the weight, but come forward hard and aim for a spot about 4 foot above the water. You want to uncoil the loop at maximum line speed. Then pull back and shock it a bit right as the line straightens out. The nymph(s) will dive straight down with force, it gets the flies on the bottom quicker.

Thanks for the responses. Seems a different cast is needed to project a weighted fly rather than the weight of a fly line. My usual dry-fly sidearm flail with backcast is clearly not the way, it gets the weighted fly going in the wrong direction fast. I will try more of a roll cast and also more of a lob/flip action, minus any backcast. thanks again

K-bob, I'll add that, in my experience, casting weighted flies (esp very heavy ones) is really more a matter of "slinging" rather than what we typically consider as "fly casting." As Tom and others have suggested, slow down your intitial stroke (as you pull the rod back toward you initiating backcast), wait for the backcast to completely straighten out, then "sling" the weighted fly forward using the weight to help propel the fly forward.

As always, it helps to practice on a lawn. Very heavy flies and split shot can actually be a bit dangerous to learn to cast and can give you a serious injury or break your fly rod so it helps to practice with heavy flies so you can start slow and easy without feeling the pressure to cast further and faster as you might feel if actually fishing.

Casting heavy flies is often referred to as "slinging lead" or "chuck and duck" and these colloquialisms are actually rather accurate and realistic.

fishidiot: I will work on a separate stroke/sling action for weighted flies, and, yes, try to make things less hazardous :)

I also bought a few streamers that are very small and light, but easy to see in the water. Hopefully, as with small san juan worms, I can add a few drops of fly sink, cast the small streamers with my usual dry fly cast, and see them as I fish below the surface.

Make the cast more out to the side, i.e. away from the body and your fly rod, then you would normally cast with dry flies.

When that lead-eyed streamer is coming forward, you do not want it hitting your rod (possibly cracking it) and you don't want it hitting your head or back.

So instead of casting with the rod near vertical, cast with the rod tip a little more out to the side than normal.

Make a slow backcast, and wait until the weight of the fly fully extends the fly line, and you will feel that weight actually start to bend the rod, then make the forward cast. Yes, slinging the weight forward, as someone already described.

In normal fly casting, you are throwing the weight of the fly line, and the fly just goes along for the ride.

When casting heavily weighted flies, that weight is what you are throwing, and the fly line is going along for the ride.

Be sure to pinch down all your barbs. Because sooner or later you will bury a hook in flesh. And they come much easier when the barb is pinched down.

And yes, get a longer fly rod, like an 8 1/2 or 9 footer. That will help a great deal.

Try using a water haul. At the end of your drift, let your flies swing all the way to the surface by using the current of the stream and then make one big flip to put them back upstream. This reduces the chances of getting hang ups by false casting (same thing for a roll cast), and gets the flies back in the water quicker.

And for the 15th time on this thread you should look into getting a longer rod. That will help with your dry presentation and accuracy also. I'd only use a 6 foot in heavy cover for wilds.